Welcome

My name is Karyl F. Stein and this is my website--a place to collect artifacts related to my family and interests. Family and friends may enjoy the journal entries. Perhaps some will wonder how I prepared a certain meal and look up the recipe. Searches for technical setup or configuration help may lead to one of my articles. Others may wonder how they got to this site and quickly run away! Whatever your reason for being here you are welcome and I hope that you find something interesting or useful within these pages.

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Category: Home Network

DNS and DHCP are core services that people probably want on their home network. Most home users will be given a router or purchase one and just use the services built into it. The Stein home network is a little more complicated with multiple sub-nets and VLANs, so a more comprehensive solution was desired.

A major concern facing this design is that DNS and DHCP services are very important and need to be highly available. Secondary factors are low cost and simplicity. Both the ISC tools and Pacemaker were considered, but it was decided that they increased complexity without providing enough of a gain in functionality.

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Category: Sauces / Soups

My mother has a severe gluten allergy, so need alternatives to flour as a thickening agent.

Corn Starch

1/2 Tablespoon corn starch can be used instead of 1 Tablespoon of flour. Mix the corn starch with enough cold water to be smooth. Instead of adding this to the pan before the liquid as we would when using flour, add the liquid first then add the corn starch mixture. Bring to a slow boil to thicken.

Guar Gum

A little of this goes a long way, so add a teaspoon at a time and mix with your liquid until your desired consistency is reached.

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Category: Breads

We have gone through several variations of pancake recipes and I do not have links to the multitude of recipes to which I referred. They are all pretty similar, though. My son likes thick pancakes with a gooey center, so add a little more flour to get the desired consistency. Total time to getting the first batch of pancakes ready to eat is about 15 minutes.

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Category: Beef / Bison

This recipe uses Crème Fraîche, which, if you make at home, requires a few days advanced preparation (see the recipe). While this may be a pain it is in my opinion well worth it. From start to finish it may take a couple hours, but a good portion of that is simmering. Serve over buttered egg noodles. I like my sauce thicker than the original recipe, so use half the suggested liquid. The crème fraîche will also serve to thicken the sauce somewhat. This is a favorite to serve during the cold winter months.

Sections

Home - Pretty much everything put on the site ends up here. If you want a full feed of all sections subscribe to this.

Cooking - Recipes plus ramblings about techniques, tools and more may be found here.

Technology - Information about the technology I use and how I use it.

Writing - Stuff that comes out of my mind and ends up on (digital) paper.

Résumé - I am not currently looking to switch jobs.

Family Site - Links to family photos and videos and more.

Contact - Click on "Contact Form" to send me an email.

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